Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-04-01
"HOme Rule" Should Rule.

IIOluc NUT SuOulu mutt
Chief Justice Jones had entered
upon the discharge of his duties as
Judge of the Third Judicial District
under such a favorable impression,
created not alone by the gentleman's
prepossessing personal appearance, but
the reports OF capability and sterling
integrity which had preceded him,
that our people read with surprise a
report published in Mondays Post-M-
teNigencer, as runIur it is true, but
dignified by extended comment that
seems to carry with it u conviction of
its having some substantial ground, to
the effect that he had about made up
his mind to import clerk from his
old home in the East, and entirely ig-
more the claims of many worthy as
pirants in this Territory for that posi-
ton. 1t seems SO improbable that a
man Of Judge Jones' comprehensive
views should do an act of such appar-
ent injustice, that he should ignore SO
completely one of the principles of the
platform which placed the ermine
upon his shoulders, that the STANDARD
feels more like reading the p. /. lee
ture on sensational journalism, than
in combining itself to the subject eek
pressed in the title"
If there is any sincerity in profcs-
sions for civil service reform, there arr.
no class of people who are better en-
titled to test of its practical workings
than those who, actuated by spirit of
progress and enterprise, have extended
the limits of civilization to the ex-
treme borders of frontier life. Many
of them came at time when to settle
in a new country was to encounter
hardship and privation. Many left
kindred that were dear to them with a
prospect OF isolation for the remainder
of life. All came imbued with ii
spirit of patriotic devotion that served
no small purpose in maintaining the
boundaries of our northwest domain.
They and their sons have laid deep
and broad the foundations of mighty
State. During all this time they have
been deprived of voice in the ma
tional councils and the expression of
the choice accorded to all other citi-
zens in the selection of the country's
Chief Magistrate. This they have pa
tiently borne for many long years, as
we'll as the appointment by the Fed
eral authority of all officers paid by
the General Government, although
a policy of "home rule" dictated a
more generous policy, and was so uni
versally recognized as founded upon a
true idea of popular government that it
found a place in the platform of prin-
ciples adopted by the people at the
general election of 1884. If this plank
was not intended to be mere slab, to
be rejected soon as it fell from the log,
which will scarcely be claimed by the
most determined aspirant from favored
political centers, how much more pal
pably is the principle violated in the
appointment of subordinate officers
from afar, who are paid by the people,
for services in which they alone are
interested!
Republican newspapers, like the p T.,
are not slow to charge the Admins
tration with insincerity, in the ap-
pointment of the Judges from Oregon
and Iowa, while We possess so much
good judicial timber in the Territory,
but we let that pass, as it is at least
sustained by ample Republican prec-
edent, and what's done, is done; but
we do protest against the evident de-
sire OF our political opponents to cast
fire-brand amid the many worthy
men whose aspirations have led them
to ask of the new Judge favorable
consideration of their claims for the
plum at his disposal.